With that as their model, he, Lucci and Travalia are planning a new course for HWS students that might “shed light on, and challenge, the ignorance and intolerance that continue to plague the peninsula and to show the richness of the abundant contributions Black Italians have made to their country,” Lucci says. “Teaching Black Italy” was designed by Fred Kuwornu, an acclaimed filmmaker, producer, civil rights activist and educator, who assembled “an amazing team of writers, artists, dancers, activists, musicians and professors to create a curriculum meant to increase the visibility of the Black experience in Italy,” says Wells. We see this in literature, politics, sports (Afro-Italians helped Italy garner a record 40 medals at the Tokyo Olympics), and, of course, in cinema and television.” “Unlike the U.S., whose Black population dates back centuries to the slave trade, Italy’s Black population, made up mostly of immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa, began to arrive in masses only during the past 20 years, with the largest influx occurring in 2014,” Travalia says.Īs a result, Lucci explains, it’s only recently that “Italy has become a true multi-ethnic country in which the Black community is speaking out and demanding to be recognized as integral members of Italian society. Wells was joined by Sebastiano Lucci, instructor of Italian and director of the Less Commonly Taught Languages Program, and Carolina Travalia, professor of Spanish and Hispanic Studies, for the weeklong course, which explored the impact of colonialism on Black Italians and the influence of Black Italian filmmakers and fashion designers. Highlighting a range of Black Italian experiences and identities, the workshop-style course offered an opportunity for educators to envision a “more diverse and inclusive vision of Italy and what it means to be Italian,” says Courtney Wells, associate professor and chair of French, Francophone, and Italian Studies. ![]() With an eye toward further diversifying the Italian curriculum, a trio of faculty members took part in “Teaching Black Italy,” an online summer course for teachers exploring the “contemporary presence of the African diaspora in Italy.”
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